Calreticulin‐dependent recycling in the early secretory pathway mediates optimal peptide loading of MHC class I molecules

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Abstract
Calreticulin is a lectin chaperone of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). In calreticulin‐deficient cells, major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules travel to the cell surface in association with a sub‐optimal peptide load. Here, we show that calreticulin exits the ER to accumulate in the ER–Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC) and the cis ‐Golgi, together with sub‐optimally loaded class I molecules. Calreticulin that lacks its C‐terminal KDEL retrieval sequence assembles with the peptide‐loading complex but neither retrieves sub‐optimally loaded class I molecules from the cis ‐Golgi to the ER, nor supports optimal peptide loading. Our study, to the best of our knowledge, demonstrates for the first time a functional role of intracellular transport in the optimal loading of MHC class I molecules with antigenic peptide.

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